Quick Hits for 10/27/15

First I wanted to follow up on some things I mentioned on the show:

This morning, I broke down the real problem with guns.  We allow the dumbest people on the planet to amass arsenals worthy of a Central American military, and then allow these stupid idiots to imagine the gun as something other than a gun (a toy, a tool for drilling holes, a paperweight, a replacement for a lack of male equipment).  A gun is a lethal weapon designed to kill human beings.  It should never be glorified as anything else, and anyone attempting to do so, even with disclaimers and warnings, is only making our gun problems worse.  Thirty thousand gun deaths a year demands we treat guns seriously, not as the prop in a jovial prank.

Yesterday morning I went on a rant against the non-racist and non-bigoted members of the Republican Party for allowing the racists and bigots to become the main voice of he Republican Party.  After having a right leaning friend accuse me of falsely labeling the party, I told him this is not my problem, but rather his.  I asked him, "when was the last time you called someone out for saying something blatantly racist?  When was the last time you insisted the worst stereo-typing of women, a race of people, or a sexual orientation was not what your party should be known for?"  I then went to HIS Facebook page and pulled up three messages from his timeline, all of which had a lot of racist undertones, but not only did he not challenge the people who initially posted them, he hit the 'share' button.  He insisted I was wrong and tried to redefine clearly racist things as not racist.  When I asked him if he would mind me sharing HIS post and thoughts with the minority his status updates targeted, he said, sternly, "No!'  That's when I said, "you just proved my entire point."  Don't think I'll be hearing from him for awhile.

As he heads out the door, John Boehner just gave the GOP a Christmas gift.  A budget deal and extension of the nations debt ceiling until 2017 will definitely help the Republicans.  If the GOP, led by the extremist far right, demanded Planned Parenthood be wiped off the planet and Obamacare be completely rescinded in order to get a budget or debt ceiling extension passed before the election, the government's finances would be in chaos, with a government shutdown being just the beginning of our problems.  The blame for this scenario would fall of the conservatives, spelling out doom for the Republican Party, guaranteeing a Democrat in the White House for another four years, a likely 60 seat Democratic Senate, and possibly putting the incredibly gerrymandered US House up for grabs.  Boehner might not like the way he's being shown the door, but he clearly still loves his party.  By getting enough Republicans to go along with the minority Democrats to pass this deal (a deal the Senate and President will likely sign off on too) he ensures the Republican Party lives past 2016.

I met Flip Saunders once, years ago.  I talked to him for ten minutes and one thing came across loud and clear; he loved basketball.  He talked about it like my son talks about baseball.  He loved studying it, loved coaching it, loved reimagining it,  and I bet he wished he could've still laced them up with his team at game time.  There's something rejuvenating about talking with someone who lived their dream.  Flip will be missed.